CHS track and field squads compete in Lawrence

In one of Carthage's best-ever relay performances at the KU Relays in Lawrence, Kan., Jordan Dangerfield, Cameron Priester, Eli Seay and Ben Southwick combined to finish fourth in the sprint medley.

In one of Carthage's best-ever relay performances at the KU Relays in Lawrence, Kan., Jordan Dangerfield, Cameron Priester, Eli Seay and Ben Southwick combined to finish fourth in the sprint medley.

The Tigers finished the event with a time of 3:39.43 after Dangerfield and Priester ran 200 meters, Seay ran 400 and Southwick finished the final 800.

"It's something I always felt we could do pretty well at," Carthage head coach Andy Youngworth said. "The sprint medley is kind of an oddball event. It's run at a lot of college meets but it's not a high school event in Missouri. For several years something has gone wrong every time we've run it, but this year it went almost exactly like I thought it could. That was the highlight of the weekend for our running events."

Carthage was seeded 11th in the sprint medley, with 21 teams competing.

Sierra Barrett's eighth-place finish in the girls' triple jump was a highlight of field events for Carthage. Barrett reached a distance of 35-04.5 feet, while Carthage freshman Kim Teed placed 18th with a jump of 33-06. Barrett was seeded 20th, and Teed 21st.

"Sierra jumped pretty close to her career best to get to the finals," Youngworth said. "I was really happy for her. She's got really good technique. She's got to do a little bit of work on one of her phases but she's ready to jump 36 or 37 feet, it's just a matter of putting it all together. Kim did pretty well. She was really nervous, so it was good for her to get that experience under her belt and that's going to help her down the road."

EJ Morgan's jump of 44-02.75 in the boys' triple jump earned him 11th place after being seeded 18th.

"It was important for him to get a good jump, and his third was his best jump," Youngworth said. "He moved pretty far up the ladder of seedings."

In the girls' long jump, Vanessa Pawlak placed 14th with a distance of 16-01.75. She was seeded 32nd.

"She came within two or three inches of making the finals," Youngworth said. "She was nervous and had a head wind and her first jump wasn't very good, but her second jump was decent and on her third one she really got a good jump off. If she had one more jump she might have been able to jump 17 feet and get to the finals."

Bryan "Bubba" Burns placed 16th in the boys' discus and 27th in the shot put. Burns threw 153 feet, 10 inches in the discus, and reached 48-00.5 in the shot put. He was seeded 35th in the shot put.

"His throw in the discus is a pretty good throw if you compare it to this time last year," Youngworth said. "He just needs to have a little more self confidence and get back to work. He threw pretty well in the shot. He was close to his season's best."

Southwick also competed in the 800-meter run, where he placed 18th with a time of 2:00.89. He was seeded 34th.

"Ben Southwick probably had as good a meet as we've ever had there," Youngworth said. "He had a pretty big load on him and he competed hard."

Carthage placed 14th in the distance medley relay, with Hunter Blount, Brandon Lindsay, Carter Hensley and Southwick finishing with a time of 11:11.85.

The Tigers finished 22nd in the 4x100 relay preliminaries. Eli Seay, Tyler Ralston, Dangerfield and Priester posted a time of 44.72.

Blount, Hensley, Lindsay and Southwick finished the 4x880 yard relay in 8:30.78 to place 21st. Carthage placed 35th in the 4x400 relay, with Dangerfield. Ralston, Southwick and Seay finishing in 3:38.96.

In the girls' 4x100 meter relay, Carthage took 28th place with Megan Taylor, Barrett, Amy Keller and Pawlak finishing in 53.63.

The Tigers placed 29th in the 4x400 girls' relay, with Keller, Teed, Taylor and Pawlak finishing the race with a time of 4:22.93.

In the 4x200 meter relay, Teed, Barrett, Keller and Pawlak finished in 1:52.95 to place 22nd.

"Our 4x100 relays really ran well," Youngworth said. "Our exchanges were not the best they could be but we're getting better. The girls' 4x400 and 4x200 ran season's bests for the year. We just need to keep working on those events. We ran well but we need to do some speed work."Overall it was a great weekend," he said.